


blood and water

by closingdoors



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/F, Family Bonding, aka: Noah is an Angry Teen and Vanessa Woodfield is Sunshine Personified, some mild homophobia sry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-05
Updated: 2019-12-05
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:00:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21685666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/closingdoors/pseuds/closingdoors
Summary: “I’m not gonna be able to get it off work, babe.”Before he can speak, Vanessa cuts in.“I can take him. Sarah can watch the boys for a couple hours. I’m not on call on Friday."Or: Vanessa accompanies Noah on parents' evening.
Relationships: Charity Dingle/Vanessa Woodfield
Comments: 22
Kudos: 244





	blood and water

**Author's Note:**

> This whole thing was written on the notes app of my phone while I worked a 12 hour shift, so the pacing of it is a little off, but I don't have enough time to edit it properly if I'm gonna get you guys a Christmas Fic update before, well, Christmas. I hope you enjoy regardless. I've been very emotional recently about all the potential Noah and Vanessa's dynamic has, so I couldn't help but write this.

He doesn’t mean to forget the slip. Well, maybe he does a little bit. He lets it crumple underneath his history book and only remembers it when his form tutor wants it back two weeks later. Noah does his best “I left it at home” routine and Mr Osmond shakes his head, muttering something about Dingle kids and saying he has to hand it in the next day.

It’s just that there’s been so much going on recently. His mum was distracted — when isn’t she? — by her breakup with Vanessa and then she’d been obsessing over what it is Sarah’s been up to. Now things are good, except maybe with Sarah, and his mum no longer spends all her time crying over Vanessa but laughing with her instead.

He produces the slip when he gets in from school that day. Vanessa’s already sat Moses and Johnny in front of the TV with some sliced apple; his mum’s applying her makeup before her evening shift. Sarah slopes off upstairs without looking up from her phone and Vanessa calls up an offer for apple as she goes, already sliding a bowl towards him.

“What’s this then?” His mum asks, straightening out the creases of the paper.

“What’s it look like?”

“Oi. Less of the cheek,” she warns, eyes scanning the paper. Vanessa moves to read over her shoulder. “Parents’ evening? Sarah have one of these as well?”

“Her year’s got a different day. I dunno when,” he says, popping an apple slice in his mouth. “You’re s’posed to pick what time you can do for each of my teachers.”

“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” Vanessa interjects. She raises her eyebrows when he scowls.

His mum gasps. “Noah, this is at the end of the flamin’ week! How am I supposed to get cover for work this short notice?”

“Dunno. It’s probably not even that important anyway.”

“That’s not true. You’re doing your GCSEs. That’s important,” Vanessa says, squeezing his mum’s shoulder briefly before moving away.

“Not like I’m gonna get good grades anyway,” he mumbles.

His mum’s eyes turn up to him, sharp and suspicious. Noah looks away, munching on apple, doing his best to look innocent while he watches Vanessa unload the dishwasher.

“How long you had this?”

“Only got given it yesterday,” he lies.

She snorts. “Right. And I’m the bloody queen,” she sighs, running a hand through her hair. “I’m not gonna be able to get it off work, babe.”

Noah straightens, ready to tell her it’s alright — he’s only afraid of what the teachers will say to her anyway. Or worse, how she’ll yell if they say anything bad about him. But before he can speak, Vanessa cuts in.

“I can take him. Sarah can watch the boys for a couple hours. I’m not on call on Friday."

“Have I ever told you you’re the best, babe?”

“Not nearly enough,” Vanessa replies with a grin.

Noah frowns. “I dunno if that’s allowed.”

Vanessa tilts her head. “Your mum not telling me I’m the best?”

“No, you plank. He means you taking him.”

“Oh. I’m sure it’s alright. I can always call the school though, just to check?”

Noah’s cheeks flood with heat at the thought. His mum’s already nodding, holding the slip out for Vanessa to take and mark.

* * *

Noah crosses his fingers and hopes that the school will only allow a legal guardian to take him to parents’ evening. Mr Osmond doesn’t say anything about Vanessa’s signature on the slip and his mum doesn’t mention any change of plans and before he knows it, he’s being bundled into the car with Vanessa as she sings off-key the whole way to the school.

The set up is a depressing array of tables scattered throughout the main hall with a teacher sat at each. Students mill around, some being yelled at by their parents in a whisper, others grinning while their parents squeeze their shoulders. Noah wonders what category he’ll fall into later. Probably the former.

Their first meeting is with his Maths teacher, Miss Bailey. She’s a pushover but she hadn’t been too pleased with him when he’d failed their recent mock exam.

He and Vanessa sit in the chairs by her table, waiting their turn. Across the hall he catches sight of Lee Cooper and his dad, watching Vanessa with mild interest. Everyone knows Noah’s family, they especially know his mum after all the drama that’s happened, and he can tell Lee’s trying to figure out who Vanessa is.

To his horror, Vanessa seems unbothered by the attention she’s receiving from the other parents and students. She even pulls out a small notebook and pen. The notebook is covered in cartoon cupcakes.

“What’s that for?”

She flips it open to the front page. “Just gonna make some notes. So I remember to tell your mum everything.”

“It’s not like she even cares.”

“Noah,” Vanessa says, in that soft tone she uses when she’s comforting Johnny or Moses after a bad dream, “that’s not true.”

He scowls at his shoes. They’re new, these ones. The lip had started coming away from the old ones and the laces were matted with mud. He’d mentioned it to his mum a few times but she would always forget to take him shopping for new ones. Vanessa had noticed them the other week and taken him out after school the next day — she’d even treated him to a chocolate bar, as long as he had promised to eat it before the others saw.

Miss Bailey calls them over and runs through his grades, including his bad score on the mock test. Vanessa scribbles sown shorthand notes throughout the entire thing and he expects it to be embarrassing, but Miss Bailey seems genuinely pleased that she’s paying so much attention.

In fact, Vanessa makes talking to the bad teachers easier. Even Mr McGrath, his German teacher, doesn’t berate him half as much as he does in class. All Vanessa has to do is smile at them and set her notepad on the desk and the teachers take a liking to her instantly.

They sit beside Ollie Hart and his mum while they wait to see his last teacher, Mrs Flemming, who teaches history. He can feel Mrs Hart eyeing up Vanessa, who’s chattering away about how nice his teachers are while he nods when she expects him to nod.

His friends and their families know about his mum and Vanessa — most of them had found out from the times Vanessa has picked him up after a sleepover, introducing herself at the door to his friends’ parents instead of waiting in the car like his mum does. It’s not like he’s ashamed or anything, he just doesn’t go around shouting about it, especially not after so many of his mum’s partners have dumped him the minute things turned sour. There’s no permanency in his life, so why would he go around telling people about temporary things?

People like Ollie Hart and Lee Cooper, though, they don’t know. He avoids them as best he can so that he doesn’t get into another fist fight behind the bike sheds — he’d told Mr Osmond he’d got the bruise on his cheek by tripping into a doorframe. That’d happened back in year nine, when he was angry at everything and everyone because his mum was gone _again_ , but there’s been an awkward rivalry between them all since.

“Sorry,” Mrs Hart says, leaning across her scowling son and smiling with teeth, “I must say I don’t recognise you. I’m on the parents’ committee board so I thought I knew everyone.”

He watches Vanessa regard her warily.

“I’m Vanessa Woodfield. I’m Noah’s stepmum.”

Something about the way she says the words makes his chest feel all funny. If he weren’t so interested in Mrs Hart’s reaction, he would’ve ducked his head.

“Lisa Hart. This is my son Ollie. He’s in a lot of classes with your Noah,” Mrs Hart explains, nodding to Ollie, who continues scowling at the air in front of him. “I hadn’t realised Noah’s dad was remarried. I don’t think I’ve ever met him.”

“No, not his dad. I’m engaged to Noah’s mum. Charity Dingle,” Vanessa tells her proudly.

The smile on Mrs Hart’s lips quickly slides away. Noah feels himself sinking lower in his seat but Vanessa just grins, maintaining eye contact with her the whole time.

“Isn’t that nice,” Mrs Hart murmurs, but it’s clear by her voice that _nice_ isn’t what she really means.

The conversation dies instantly. Mrs Flemming calls Ollie over and Ollie shoots Noah a smirk before he and his mum get up.

Noah glances at Vanessa. There’s a tightness around her eyes that wasn’t there before. When she catches him watching her, she smiles and squeezes his knee. He doesn’t mind the touch.

Mrs Flemming calls them over once she’s done with Ollie. She shakes Vanessa’s hand and gives him a nod.

“Noah’s the best student in my class,” she begins. He ducks his head. “He received the top score in our latest mock exam.”

He can feel Vanessa’s gaze practically burning through him.

“You didn’t tell us that, Noah.”

Noah just shrugs, choosing a point on Mrs Flemming’s table and staring at it.

Mrs Flemming continues singing his praises to Vanessa, who starts scribbling down more than she had any of the previous teachers combined. Especially when they start talking about what A-Levels he’s thinking about taking. He hadn’t really given it much thought, he’s never really given a stuff about school since so many people in his family have done just fine without it, but he finds himself mumbling out responses because of how eagerly Vanessa’s watching him.

The sun has set by the time they emerge from the hall. The path to the car is ill lit and Vanessa uses the torch from her phone to light their path, her notepad tucked into her coat pocket and her bag beating against her hip.

He never really knows what to talk about with Vanessa. It’s true that she’s the best parent he’s ever had, and he’d been more terrified than he'll ever admit that he was gonna lose her when she and his mum broke up, but it’s not like they have a lot in common. She tries to make him healthy and always double checks he’s done his homework and remembers all the names of friends, but he doesn’t really know her. He doesn’t really know how to handle being mothered like that. His mum doesn’t show love like that.

“Your mum’s gonna be really proud of what your history teacher had to say about you,” Vanessa says, avoiding stepping on a snail on the path.

He shrugs. “She doesn’t really care about school.”

There’s a beat before Vanessa answers. Her voice is quiet and unsure of itself.

“You know, school was one of the things Bails promised her.”

Noah can’t help the way he flinches at the name. He stops walking abruptly. Vanessa sighs, brows pinched together.

“I don’t wanna talk about him.”

“I just mean that your mum, well, maybe if things had been different she might’ve done better in school. She’s smart. You know that.” Vanessa reaches out for him but then seems to think better of it, her hand falling back to her side. “I know she doesn’t show it, but she doesn’t want you to struggle like she did.”

“I said I don’t wanna talk about him!”

“Noah — “

He storms off. He knows he has height on his side and she can’t keep up with him without jogging. There are hot tears in his eyes by the time he reaches her car, crossing his arms across his chest and leaning against the door, waiting for her to unlock it.

She approaches him slowly, car keys in hand. He turns away, staring at his angry reflection.

“I’m sorry. We don’t have to talk about him. I didn’t mean to upset you,” Vanessa says softly. She rests her palm between his shoulder blades and the touch alleviates some of the tears. “What do you want for dinner? McDonalds or KFC?”

It’s an obvious attempt at fixing things, just like his mum always does by setting out a bunch of sweets and crisps right before telling him something that’s gonna change his life forever. He shrugs.

“Well, McDonald’s is on the way home, so we can stop off there?” Vanessa suggests.

He doesn’t say anything and she just sighs, unlocking the car. Noah slumps into the passenger seat. He’s tempted to rest his muddy shoes on the dashboard, just because he knows it annoys her. He doesn’t.

It’s been a long time since he’s had to talk about all the Bails stuff. He wants to bury it down as far as he can so that he can try to forget. His mum is tough and loud and bright. He doesn’t want to think about anyone hurting her. Especially not like that.

They sit inside McDonald’s to eat. Vanessa never likes going through the drive through, she says it stinks out her car, not like his mum who just wants to get in and out and shut Moses up as quickly as possible. She wrinkles her nose when he pours extra ketchup in his burger and squishes the bun until it’s leaking from the edges, but doesn’t say anything about it. She even offers to buy him an ice cream.

“You were really brave earlier,” he finds himself saying between shovelling spoonfuls of smarties into his mouth.

“What was that? I don’t speak dentist.”

She laughs at her own bad joke and he rolls his eyes.

“With Ollie’s mum. You were really brave.”

“Oh,” she murmurs, her eyes going big and watery. “Well... thank you, Noah.”

“Does that sort of thing happen a lot?”

“More than I’d like. But not enough to make me ashamed,” she admits, fiddling with her engagement ring. “Not anymore, anyway. I mean — I was on the wrong side of forty before I was willing to admit I’m gay. I’m tired of being ashamed. And I’m _proud_ to be with your mum. You know that, don't you?”

A lump grows in his throat, so he looks away.

“Just asked a simple question. Didn’t expect a bloody poem.”

Vanessa hums. “You are so like Charity. And don’t swear.”

“Bloody’s not a swear word,” he protests.

Vanessa slides the remains of her apple pie towards him. He takes it, dunking it into his ice cream before he realises he probably should’ve double checked she didn’t want it anymore.

“Does anyone give you grief about me and your mum?”

“Not really.”

“You can be honest with me, Noah. I’m more than happy to handle it when it’s aimed at me, and we both know your mum is strong enough to handle petty comments, but I don’t want it to affect any of my kids.”

His chest gets that tight feeling again and the apple pie suddenly feels very hard to swallow. He shoves the plastic spoon back in the ice cream, leaning back into his squeaky seat.

Across the room, there’s a little girl the same age as Johnny and Moses, sitting in her mum’s lap as she eats her food. She’s watching him curiously as she drops half of the fries from her hand in an attempt to eat them. Johnny does the same kind of thing. His mum’s always cleaning up after him while Vanessa takes the two boys up for a bath. He thinks he sees Johnny in a lot of the little kids he sees nowadays. God knows he's better company than Moses sometimes.

“I don’t get any grief. No-one really knows. Not that I’m ashamed or anything,” he adds in a rush. “I’m — I’m glad you’re with mum.”

Vanessa sniffs, reaching across the table to squeeze his hand. He lets her take it.

“Me too, Noah. You know it was really brave if you to come to me the way you did when me and your mum were broken up? I want you to know you can always come to me, about anything, no matter how me and your mum are doing. Though I plan on sticking around for as long as she lets me,” Vanessa says, her eyes shining when she smiles.

“I know,” he admits, the tips of his ears burning.

“Now,” she says, drawing back, “we need to look into what sort of paths history can lead into. What d’you reckon you’d want to study at uni?”

“I’m not going to uni.”

“Why not?”

“Well — “ he begins, and stops. Because he doesn’t actually know why. “Don’t we need to get back for Johnny and Moses?”

Vanessa checks her watch, sighing.

“Yes, we do. But don’t think this conversation is over, mister.”

“Uni’s years away!”

“Then I’ll badger you every day until you go,” Vanessa promises, laughing as they push out of the doors.

* * *

Sarah’s given Johnny and Moses half of the sweets from the sweet cupboard in an attempt to get them to listen to her. It takes Vanessa half an hour just to get them in the bathroom, let alone in the bath. Sarah rolls her eyes but hovers near the doorway; he can tell she feels guilty about it. That and she’s probably scared of what his mum’s gonna say once she gets home and finds out.

“What’re you looking at?” She snaps, fiddling with the sleeves of her cardigan.

Inside the bathroom, Vanessa has managed to dunk Moses into the tub. He tries to climb back out of it, giggling, and she laughs in return, the stress leaking out of her when Moses plants a wet kiss on her cheek.

Noah shakes his head, retreating to his room.

* * *

Once Johnny and Moses have finally hit their sugar crash and are tucked up in bed, Noah creeps down from his room. From the stairs, he can see his mum’s back from work, sitting on the sofa and watching something rubbish on TV.

As he approaches to sit with her, she twists and holds a finger to her lips. He rounds the sofa and finds Vanessa’s fast asleep, stretched out across the sofa, her head resting in his mum’s lap.

“Heard all about what your teachers had to say. The good and the bad,” she says quietly, raising an eyebrow.

He settles on the very edge of the sofa, noticing the little notebook resting innocuously at Vanessa’s side.

“Right little swot, this one is,” his mum murmurs, running a hand through Vanessa’s hair.

“You’ve only just worked that out?”

“Yeah, well,” she whispers, her thumb rubbing at Vanessa’s temple, “she’ll do.”

“She’s alright.”

His mum looks up, surprised. “Yeah?”

“It’s dead annoying when she makes toast with brown bread instead of white.” He shrugs. “But she’s alright.”

Vanessa snores lightly in her sleep. His mum rolls her eyes, reaching for the throw blanket over the back of the sofa. She settles it around Vanessa as best as she can, brushing the hair from Vanessa’s eyes.

He’s never seen his mum be attentive like this. Ever. Not even to him or Moses, but he’s too old to be tucked into bed anymore. She’s got this soft, dopey look on his face that he still doesn’t have a name for, but she always has it when she’s around Vanessa. He likes it. He _likes_ his mum when she's around Vanessa. She's fun, she pays attention — as well as she can — and Vanessa's always trying to rope them into doing family things that his mum pretends to hate and drag her feet about, but she always grins like a maniac if Noah shows up. 

“I know it’s been a tough year, kid. But it’s gonna be better from now on. That means no excuses not to take school seriously, yeah?”

That dopey look has slid away to make way for the sharpness she often carries. He thinks about what Vanessa said earlier, about school being one of things Bails promised his mum. Anger burns red hot in his chest at the thought that that’d been one of the things that’d led her to follow him into that flat. One of the reasons why she was hurt over and over for months when she was younger than he is now.

He might not have had the most stable of upbringings, but he’ll always be glad he’s always hot food on the table, and school to bunk off of, and a place to sleep at night. It might not always be in the way he expected it — Vanessa telling bad veggie puns in an attempt to get him to eat his greens is more annoying than endearing — but it’s always there. Maybe that’s why his mum loves Vanessa so much. She’s stable. That’s something neither she or him have ever had.

“Yeah. Alright,” he agrees after a beat.

His mum nods. “Now go on. Up to bed. You’ve got footie in the morning.”

“You dropping me off?”

She shakes her head. “Ness is. I’ve got to cover Bob’s shift. She’s washed your kit already, it’s in your drawer.” Then she yawns, covering her mouth with her hand. “S’pose I’d better get this lump up to bed, too.”

“M’not a lump,” Vanessa mumbles, her words slurring together with her sleep.

His mum grins down at her as she wakes. Vanessa blinks up at her blearily, but answers her smile all the same.

Noah stands, already backing away as his mum and Vanessa stir. It’s not until he gets halfway up the stairs that he stops.

“Night,” he calls over to them.

His mum’s not paying any attention, too busy laughing at Vanessa stumbling over her own feet. Vanessa leans against her side and looks over to Noah, her eyes bright.

“Goodnight, Noah,” she replies, and he heads upstairs to bed.


End file.
